Plan Mexico, Condor B and a Series of Long Dirty Wars

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/08/22/the-u-s-is-fanning-the-flames-of-violence-in-mexico/

The author provides a well done and quite readable narrative regarding the drug war in Mexico which began in 2006. He provides many links, including not a few to diplomatic cables provided by Wikileaks.

While I would have no trouble believing the United States played a role in instigating the 2006 operation, what is abundantly clear is that it entered a new phase in 2008. The US moved from covert and diplomatic support to open financial and military involvement. It also expanded the 'war' into the rest of Central America. There's a real tragedy that's been taking place south of the US border and while everyone knows things in Mexico are bad, few are paying attention to the whole story.

I will grant that many Americans who live near the border have felt the effects in ways the rest of the United States has not. Twenty-five years ago I lived near the border and frequently visited Tijuana and other destinations further south. Apparently and sadly those days are long gone.

And obviously the effects of smuggling and gang violence have spilled into the United States and greatly affected the Southwest and yet I have to wonder (once again) how many Americans are aware of US policies and involvement in Mexico and Latin America as a whole?

As Christians we should be especially concerned as there are many Christians in Mexico caught between Roman Catholic persecution and the violence perpetrated by the gangs.

Hollywood has at times ventured into this realm and yet does the public accept the notion that elements within the US state collaborate with drug cartels and even aid some to the detriment of others? While such notions smack of 'conspiracy theory' they are nevertheless true and well documented even by mainstream sources. As is often the case the truth is out there, it's just that no one is paying attention or if they are it's only for a brief time and then the story is forgotten and disappears.

In our societal milieu, no Orwellian Memory Hole is needed. The technology revolution and the new culture produced by the Steve Jobs' and Mark Zuckerberg's of the world have seen to that.

There's another angle to this story that no one is paying any attention to it and it is yet another result of the new world created by the beneficiaries of 9/11...

I'm referring to private security contractors, a world of mercenaries and privatised espionage and intelligence. This world has exploded in the wake of the phony War on Terror. Normally we focus on domestic surveillance and the Middle East but we are negligent if we ignore the effects of this policy vis-à-vis the wider world. And a significant portion of that wider world is Latin America.

Those who have been paying attention are aware of the mercenaries both state and corporate sponsored that operate in places like Colombia and Ecuador. But this trend is now virtually ubiquitous throughout Latin America.

It also must be noted that this new era of Merida and Plan Colombia are nothing less than a windfall for US defense contractors.

In reality this Operation Condor Plus or Phase II. These societies are being destroyed for the sake of American profits and ultimately American control. Rebel regimes like Venezuela, Honduras, Brazil and Ecuador are being brought into line and the rest of the region is in the process of being subjugated.

The South, so long under US domination was taken for granted at the end of the Cold War and almost slipped away. The people of Latin America could have never dreamed of what would happen as a result. While violence does not affect the entire region, unrest is clearly spreading.

The notion that the migrant crisis was fomented by Obama's careless speeches is largely nonsense. The crisis is being generated by chaos, war and fear of torture and death. People are desperate and apparently in some cases willing to send their children away on a perilous journey to El Norte because at least across the border within the frontiers of the Empire, they will have a chance. That is unless they're captured, put into prison camps and deported. All too often the experience will turn many of them into criminals, broken and desperate people.

It is a tragedy, the result of a crime on a massive scale. While not every ounce of fault and responsibility lies at the feet of the United States, a great deal of it undoubtedly does. And I'm not speaking of the drug users. They too play a part in the US death machine. But then again so does everyone who carries an iPhone and shops at Wal-mart. The scope of US criminality and violence is vast but with regard to Mexico and Latin America a great deal of culpability must be laid at the feet of the US political Establishment and its various agents.

Under Donald Trump these policies are due to be amplified, enhanced and intensified. Woe unto those who live in the battlefields of this truly dirty war.

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/03/condor-convictions.html

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2016/03/obama-in-argentina-condor-and-crocodile.html

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-forces-behind-latin-american-unrest.html

http://pilgrimunderground.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-latin-american-pseudo-left.html